The Seraphim Sequence

Chapter 7-3

Wearing his new one-piece blue overalls and white sneakers, size twelve, Damien squeaked into the mess. It was already full of crew. Judging by the conversation, the crew seemed to be a mix of Australian and American. He knew that many of the Americans were transfers from the Manhattan base after the hurricane had hit.

He spotted Jay at the far end, his neck wrapped in white dressing. He was sitting snugly with the skipper, two officers and the rest of Sophia’s group, all in their new blue overalls. The only person missing was Nasira. Damien made his way past the tables. Some of the crew looked up and nodded. He nodded politely in return. One guy shook his hand vigorously, catching him off guard. Despite the fact they’d just abandoned yet another Shadow Akhana base for unknown waters, morale seemed overly high. Everyone was talking and stuffing their faces with food. And god it smelled good. He’d forgotten the last time he’d eaten.

DC shuffled over on the seat to give Damien some room. He sat down opposite Jay and checked his G-Shock watch. It was 1920, somewhere around dinnertime.

‘Get stuck into some southern cooking,’ Jay said, pointing with his elbow to a large plate of fried chicken and bowls of gravy. ‘Fried chicken. Gravy’s real too.’

‘We use almond flour,’ the skipper said from beside Jay. ‘Gravy’s made with pan drippings, garlic and onion.’

‘The Shadow Akhana embraced the operative diet,’ Sophia added. ‘Almond’s about the only flour we cook with these days.’

Damien’s mouth watered as he seized a drumstick and sank his teeth into it. Juice dripped down his chin. Jay’s plate was already littered with chicken bones that he’d picked clean. Now he was washing it all down with a plastic cup of beer. Before Damien even realized how dehydrated he was, Jay had poured him a cup of water. He filled it to the brim so Damien would spill it, just like he used to do when they were kids and test subjects in Project GATE.

Jay grinned. Damien carefully brought the cup to his lips and drank while Jay stole one of his drumsticks.

‘How’s your neck?’ Damien said.

‘Shoulder,’ Jay said. ‘Good. Doc says the stitches come out in six weeks.’

Damien laughed. ‘So probably tomorrow then.’

An officer from the adjacent booth overheard. ‘You guys got super-healing or something?’

Another officer, who Damien recognized as the sonar officer from the command room, elbowed his comrade. ‘It’s the Chimera vector, right?’

‘Yeah,’ Damien said.

He didn’t really want to get into it. Last time he’d explained to an Akhana member what the Chimera vectors did, they’d started calling him Captain America.

‘Actually it’s two Chimera vectors,’ Benito said. ‘The healing comes from the Axolotl one. Accelerated repair and regeneration.’

Damien wanted to stomp on Benito’s foot but he was too far away. Benito was just encouraging these guys.

The first officer whistled. ‘Wouldn’t mind that one.’

‘What’s the other one?’ the sonar officer asked.

‘It’s the one that killed off half a billion women,’ someone else said. ‘You might’ve heard of it.’

The room went silent. Sophia stopped eating. Damien looked over his shoulder to find the officer who’d spoken. He was sitting in a booth further down the mess, a slight smirk on his face. Past him, Damien could see Nasira standing in the doorway.

Nasira had heard everything. She walked calmly to the officer and leaned over him, both hands on the table.

‘Just a question that comes to mind,’ she said. ‘Off the top of your head, how many times have you put your life on the line to protect the Akhana?’

‘I didn’t mean … I wasn’t trying to …’ the officer said.

‘To protect anyone?’ Nasira said.

‘I’ve served the Akhana for three years,’ the officer said.

‘It takes a certain quality in a person to go toe to toe with the Fifth Column on their playing field,’ Nasira said. ‘It’s called backbone. You might’ve heard of it.’

Damien watched Sophia stare at her food a moment longer before starting to eat again. His own appetite had faded as he realized exactly what he’d gotten himself—and Jay—into. Again. If the leader of the Akhana, Owen Freeman, was the Fifth Column’s most wanted, then Sophia was their second most wanted. And as Damien had discovered last time they’d joined Sophia on an operation, hanging out with one of the Fifth Column’s most wanted usually resulted in a very bad day. One that came with its fair share of near-death experiences.